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I'm sure this has been discussed previously, but does anyone know the origin of the word Norman Pin? Did a guy named Norman invent it?

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Named after Norman Rockwell who hid an image of the device in every painting he did. The image is really hard to find in the pictures and that's why most people don't know about it. He designed the pin when he was a young man and didn't have much money, being an unknown artist, and he needed a cleat for his new Elco yacht but couldn't afford it so he put a piece of pipe through a hole in a plank and screwed it upright to the bow deck. It worked so well that all his unknown artist friends wanted them on their yachts and began calling them Norman Pins. Dick Fisher was a personal friend of Norman Rockwell and paid him a premium for every one he put on a Boston Whaler. I guess the patent is expired now so they are made by a bunch of different companies and Norman Rockwell can't use the money anymore anyway.

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Thanks....and now I know :)

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It's a good question and I do not know the answer.

Historically, the norman pin was the pin or bar going through a Samson post. When the 13 foot Whaler was developed, Fisher put a pin in the bow to use as a cleat and while the raised fiberglass protrusion there is not a Samson post, the pin serves the exact same purpose so he called it the norman pin.

Note that the word norman is not capitalized.

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Henry, are you "pulling our legs".

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Huckleberry, why are people always asking me if I lie? ;-)

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Norman Rockwell? Come on?